The fight card for Oktagon 56 in Birmingham, England is now set, but it didn’t come without a little reshuffling here and there.
The top of the card was unaffected by some of the drama lower down the bout sheet, with the championship bout between Aaron Aby and Sam Creasey rubber-stamped for the main event after both men made championship weight ahead of their battle for the vacant flyweight title.
The co-main event features Tipsport Gamechanger tournament action, and lightweights Akonne Wanliss and Sahil Siraj both hit 70.7kg for their eagerly-anticipated matchup, which has been full of bad blood ever since they were originally set to fight in Ostrava earlier in the year.
They’re fighting in Birmingham as a direct result of the events that followed the pre-fight press conference in Ostrava, when two members of Siraj’s corner attacked Wanliss backstage. The two coaches were banned from the promotion, the fight was pushed back to this weekend, and the needle was still very evident during the pre-fight presser following the weigh-ins earlier today.
There’s also been some simmering tension between Shem Rock and Stefano Catacoli, with Rock getting under Catacoli’s skin to such an extent that the usually reserved Londoner pushed out at the Liverpudlian during the weigh-in faceoffs. Later in the day, Catacoli answered one question before getting up and walking out of the press conference, leaving Rock to face off with a random member of the media instead.
The rest of the main card weighed in successfully, but there were three notable changes further down the card.
James Dixon missed weight by 0.9kg for his lightweight bout with Max Handanagic, and the two teams were unable to agree on a deal to keep the fight alive, so the matchup was subsequently removed from the card.
Another weight miss came in the lightweight bout between Ammari Diedrick and Daniel Hromek, with Hromek coming in 0.7kg over the permitted limit. However, Diedrick and Hromek both agreed for the fight to continue, and the bout remains on the card as a result.
Finally, England’s Beau Gavin was pulled from the card on medical grounds during the weigh-in process, leaving his opponent, Mbaye Gaye, without a dance partner. Oktagon officials put a call in to Team Renegade, and Bakhtyaar Oryakhail was drafted in on late notice. He tipped the scale at 71kg, compared to Gaye’s 65.95kg, and a new catchweight matchup was made.
Check out the full list of official weights below…
Oktagon 56: Official weigh-in results
MAIN CARD
- Aaron Aby (56.5) vs. Sam Creasey (56.5) – for vacant flyweight title
- Akonne Wanliss (70.7) vs. Sahil Siraj (70.7) – Tipsport Gamechanger bout
- Shem Rock (67.9) vs. Stefano Catacoli (67.9)
- Daniel Skvor (93.5) vs. Will Fleury (93.5)
- Andrej Kalasnik (77.6) vs. Liam Etebar (77.5)
- George Staines (70.6) vs. Tomas Ciganik (70.8)
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Jakub Dohnal (65.9) vs. James Hendin (66.1)
- Denis Frimpong (70.7) vs. Callum Mullen (70.4)
- Mick Stanton (84.3) vs. Kamil Wojciechowski (84.1)
- Max Handanagic (77.5) vs. James Dixon (80.5*)
- Ammari Diedrick (77.3) vs. Daniel Hromek (78.3**)
- Mbaye Gaye (65.95) vs. Bakhtyaar Oryakhail (71.0***) – 71kg catchweight
- Megan Morris (57.0) vs. Aitana Alvarez (56.7)
* Fighter missed weight, bout removed from fight card
** Fighter missed weight, bout will proceed as planned
*** Beau Gavin was removed from his bout with Mbaye Gaye on medical grounds, and was replaced with Bakhtyaar Oryakhail, with the matchup reset as a 71kg catchweight bout
